Funeral arrangements have been announced for Larry Bannock,
Big Chief of the Golden Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians. Bannock, who began
masking as Spy Boy for the gang in the 1950s, passed away April 30, just
days after appearing at the 2014 New
Orleans Jazz Fest, radio station WWOZ reported on its website.

According to Offbeat magazine, Larry Bannock joined the Golden
Star Hunters in the late '50s, and rose through the ranks to become Big Chief by 1979. Over the years, he told the magazine in 2006, he was shot, had a heart attack and fought cancer, but he never stopped masking.

In 1984, Larry Bannock discussed the Mardi Gras Indian
tradition on PBS's "MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour." The respected chief also is a past
president of the Mardi Gras Indian Council, one of the more public faces of a culture
that still maintains a certain secrecy to its tradition and ritual.

According to Guardians of the Flame Mardi Gras Indians Queen
Cherice Harrison-Nelson in a Facebook post today (May 6) Bannock's funeral will
take place Saturday, May 10 at the City of Love Church, 8601 Palmetto St., with
viewing at 11 a.m. and service at noon.

The service will be followed by a Mardi Gras Indian tribal
ceremony with horse-drawn carriage procession to 7936 Edinburgh St., and then to
the corner of Olive and Pine streets, where Bannock once held Indian practice.

Note: The original photo posted with this story was misidentified as Mr. Bannock. It has been corrected.